Manchester United staged their own fireworks display at Old Trafford to welcome in the New Year.

Sir Alex Ferguson's Premiership leaders are now 11 points clear of Arsenal in the title race and it will be more than a 2001 oddity if they are not crowned champions once more.

West Ham were taken apart by scintillating display of passing and movement which had the visitors chasing shadows, and Harry Redknapp's side did not help themselves with several bad blunders.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took less than three minutes to break the ice at United's New Year's Day party and an own goal by Stuart Pearce after 33 minutes effectively ended the contest.

Dwight Yorke made it 3-0 in the second half and it was only after Ferguson brought on some young blood to give them experience that West Ham ended United's stranglehold as Frederic Kanoute headed home with 18 minutes remaining.

Solskjaer, whose name in his native Norwegian means 'ray of sunshine', has certainly lit up United since Andy Cole's injury gave him his chance to shine.

And the striker took little more than 120 seconds to punish some appalling West Ham defending and score his sixth goal in seven league appearances and 10th of the season in all competitions.

Rigobert Song was the culprit for the Hammers, embarking on a suicidal run across his own box before his clearance was blocked by David Beckham.

The Cameroon international had a further chance to clear his lines, but hesitated fatally and was robbed by the predatory Solskjaer, who buried a fantastic shot in the opposite corner of the net.

There was no let-up for the visitors.

Pearce clattered Paul Scholes in Beckham territory 25 yards out - the veteran defender was booked - and Shaka Hislop was forced to pull off a good save low to his right from the current England captain's free-kick.

Redknapp's side had not mounted a meaningful attack before Hislop was again called into action, tipping over a fiercer curling effort from Beckham wide on the left.

From the corner, Beckham found possession in a similar position but this time his effort was narrowly wide.

West Ham were without their Italian striker, Paolo di Canio, who did not travel north as he was suffering from a heavy cold.

The Hammers can have been in no doubt about the size of their task - they had lost all previous seven visits to Old Trafford since the start of the Premiership in 1992.

The visitors never got to grips with Beckham, who found space all over the field. In the 23rd minute his trademark cross from the right found the head of Yorke six yards out with Hislop in no man's land.

Old Trafford rose almost as one, but Song produced an overhead clearance on the line to save a certain goal and atone somewhat for his earlier blunder.

Hislop alone was keeping West Ham in the game at this stage, and he produced a quite stunning save to deny Ryan Giggs after half-an-hour.

The Welsh winger, on the right-hand edge of the area, arrowed a volley towards the top corner but Hislop tipped it over at full stretch.

Yorke, after another Song blunder, forced Hislop into another classy save - without the keeper's presence United might have matched their goals in last season's 7-1 thrashing - and it took an unfortunate intervention from Pearce to finally see the Trinidad and Tobago international beaten again.

On 33 minutes, Phil Neville drove in a low cross from the right and in attempting to clear, Pearce succeeded only in diverting the ball past Hislop's groping fingers into the net.

United were relentless and Hislop had to deny compatriot Yorke yet again after a thrilling Giggs run had seen the striker presented with a chance.

It took West Ham 38 minutes to manage a shot in anger. Kanoute, who spent match on a lonely patrol up front, tricked his way into space 25 yards out, but his effort was straight at Fabien Barthez.

Wes Brown had marshalled Kanoute superbly in the first half, but six minutes after the break the gangly Frenchman twisted away and Brown's lunging challenge earned the 20-year-old a booking, and the Hammers a free-kick 25 yards out on the left.

Pearce has made a habit of scoring against United during his career, but his free-kick effort was blasted high and wide.

It would have been amazing if United had managed to match their first-half dominance, and Redknapp's half-time tactical change saw Joe Cole come on for Titi Camara in an attempt to at least congest the midfield areas through which United had strolled at will.

However, it did not take long for normal service to be resumed and Yorke made it 3-0 with a goal of superb simplicity.

In the 58th minute, skipper Roy Keane whipped in a quick cross and Yorke dived full-length to bullet a header from six yards past the helpless Hislop.

If it had been a boxing match, the referee would have stopped the fight and perhaps Ferguson took pity on the visitors as he replaced Keane and Giggs with youngsters Ronnie Wallwork and Jonathan Greening.

Barthez showed he had not let his concentration slip, pulling off two sharp saves in as many minutes as Kanoute tried his luck from the edge of the box.

Those substitutions certainly eased the pressure on West Ham and Kanoute finally managed to get onto the scoresheet with 18 minutes remaining.

Pearce sent over a corner and Kanoute got some reward for his efforts with a powerful header which rebounded off Barthez and over the line.

The goal gave the Hammers some hope, and at least ensured a degree of excitement at the finish.

But even when they had further opportunities the Hammers' spurned them.

Only Frank Lampard will know how he missed the target when he slipped through the defence and lobbed the ball over Barthez, but lofted his shot over an empty net.

That might have made things interesting - but United put up the shutters and in the dying minutes Yorke headed against the bar from Beckham's cross.

Teams

Man Utd (2) 3 West Ham (0) 1

Man Utd: Barthez, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Brown, Silvestre, Beckham, Keane (Wallwork 62), Scholes (Butt 80), Solskjaer, Yorke, Giggs (Greening 61).

Subs Not Used: Van Der Gouw, Clegg.

Booked: Brown.

Goals: Solskjaer 3, Stuart Pearce 33 og, Yorke 58.

West Ham: Hislop, Stuart Pearce, Song, Winterburn, Sinclair, Carrick, Lomas, Moncur (Tihinen 46), Lampard, Kanoute,Camara (Cole 46).

Subs Not Used: Potts, Diawara, Forrest.Booked: Stuart Pearce, Camara.

Goals: Kanoute 72.

Att: 67,603

Ref: P Jones (Loughborough).